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Taking Risperidone, Haldol, Abilify, Seroquel or Zyprexa?

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Taking Risperidone, Haldol, Abilify, Seroquel or Zyprexa?

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 3043

Hi ve5cma.

The psychiatrist thinks I am Bipolar. The psychologist knows I am Bipolar and my doctor is worried about my weight. Right now I am taking Effexor at 150mg, even with the risks. I am very depressive and sometime hypomanic so the Effexor pushes my mood rang a bit higher than it would be "normal" for my chemistry. this ensures more success in my controling the other factors ... good life habits (food, sleep, exercise, leasure). Also I am taking Seroquel at 25 mg to slow down the anxiety charged thought patterns and let me get to sleep. At this dose it does nothing for my moods, only make me perpetually sleepy - and if I skip I am back to the anxiety nightmares.

this past week was a stress buster for me so I took controle, skipped the seroquel and juiced up on the energy drinks. I conciously took controle and dangerously pushed myself to the limit of my performance (because the fine line between hypomanic performance and manic energy is not sometime I can negotiate). I know what the meds do to me and after three years I see the minute changes it does to me. I know exactly what I need to be looking for now... and why I have asked to be fully reviewed. It is why the psychiatrist has refered me to the anxiety and mood disorder clinic. -She is somewhat slow and cannot find where one problem ends and another starts. So she sees me as stable and wants me seen by another.

i do not know how to handle your doctor. I usually scare the bejesus out of most medical people. I usually ignore physical and emotion pains until they are so festered that an unsual amount of strong meds are needed. Then when I finally see someone it is only to know if I am doing some irreperable dammage. I prefer to suffer. I am miserable and see a doctor with my usual smile masks and ignore the discomfort. The last time I went to the doctor I vlurted out all the pain I had and was unable to truely endure (with the changes in moods) and he wrote me up a referal for the emergency at the psych hospital.

I do know that side effects are to be endured only if the primary effects are 100% satisfactory. In my case the sleepyness is almost unendureable right now because I am soon to be a menace on the road. But up until now, I have been stable and functional so I was okay with the 10 to 12 hours of sleep and the 30 min lunch nap. And lets face it who cares to be awake in the winter when it is dark by 5 o'clock in the evening and too cold to even look out the window at the snow piled up to the windows? But now that some decent weather is here, I would like to go for a bike ride for time to time with my sone. I would like to splash in puddles with my daughter. I do not want to be this crabby bear that can't move past hyberation.

So I would ask the Dr what I should be looking for in the meds. Why this particular med and what is it supposed to trigger in the brain? Why the slow decrease rather than a complete change to a more conventional choice of meds? What in the studies does the Dr feel is relevent to your case so that you are given this particular mix? And I would tell him that the intamacy with my partner is very important to my overall well being so that the ejaculatory failure is an unacceptable side effect.

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 8760

Ve5cma,

From a professional standpoint, I have seen the combination used before but my advice to you regarding this matter would be to raise the issue.

Obviously, this side effect is not a pleasant one and treatment should always be tailored to the individual.Try to approach this topic in a well-informed but unaggressive manner. Simply explain to your doctor that you don't quite understand as to why this course of medication was chosen for you and it would be greatly helpful to you if he could give your further clarification and what his experience has been with this combination in other patients.

Next, bring up again the side effect that you are experiencing, citing the lack of change since the decrease. Ask what other options are available to you for treatment and discuss cessation of the medication if that is your wish. If you believe counseling or psychotherapy might be a better alternative, you can also bring this up at this time and ask for a referral.

Hope this helps. Don't forget the depression center also offers a great self-led CBT program in your session diary.

Hope this helps.

Danielle, Bilingual Health Educator

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 3043

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your situation. That does not sound like a pleasant side effect at all! I can understand why you would want to discontinue taking the Risperidone. I have been prescribed medications in the past that have had side effects the Doctor never cautioned me about, etc. I have taken to researching a drug when I'm prescribed it, just to be on the safe side. Thanks to the internet, it's pretty easy to do! Anyways, about a year ago I started to develop terrible anxiety (in addition to my depression) and my psychiatrist prescribed me Seroquel. It is used off-label for anxiety, but is primarily for Schizophrenia. It worked wonderfully and let me function like my normal self intead of the basket-case I had become! So although off-label use does have some disadvantages, I must say I am in favour of Doctors continuing to prescribe this way.

Talking to your Doc about it can be tricky-especially if it is an arrogant Doc. Although, I would still recommend telling him, as he may be able to get you on another drug, which does similar things without the bad side effect. He must have prescribed it for a reason. Perhaps you could appeal to his ego by asking him if there are any drugs he could recommend besides Risperidone to treat whatever it is that he prescribed it for. Try to be assertive, too. I recently had to do this with my doc to get me off an anti-depressant that caused me to gain 30 lbs in 3 months!! When I discussed it with her, she initially dismissed the side effect as something I would "have to get used to". Well, going from an average weight to almost obese was not something I was interested in getting used to!! I persisted and told her that I wasn't comfortable taking it anymore and asked her to recommend another one. She gave in!! Hope this helps. Good luck!

15 years ago 0 +0 / -0 3

These are known in the meds business as "atypical antiphycotics". Their primary use is for Schizophrenia. HOWEVER: Although these drugs are NOT approved by the FDA or Health Canada for treatment of depression, many docs are prescribing these as companion drugs to traditional SSRIs (Celexa, Lexapro, Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, etc.) This is quaintly called "off label" use: the prescribing of a drug intended for resolution of some other condition.

I got interested in these because I was prescribed Risperidone as an adjunct to Welbutrin XL. Soon after taking Risperidone I began to experience "retrograde ejaculation" (a condition where semen does not exit as usual, instead the body ejaculates into the badder, and semen exits the body as part of urine). Needless to say, that was the end of taking Risperidone for me. (I found a reference to this bizarre side effect on the drug manufacturer's (Johnson & Johnson) official label, listed as "Ejaculatory failure" (the FDA label site for Risperidone: and also in the wikipedia citation for risperidone This is also discussed in the American Journal of Phychiatry.

I'm a little ticked that my Dr. is prescribing a med that is "off label" (Read: Not approved for what he is giving it to me for). The dose of Risperidone for Schizophrenia is 4mg., the dose used off label as an SSRI companion is 1 or 1.5 mg. I got further disturbed when I read that a review of seven studies investigating the use of atypical antiphycotics as companions to SSRIs found that there was no benefit at all from this off label use. The study review was conducted by none other than the US Department of Health and Human Services (I don't think there is a more credible body).

So here's my dilemma: I discussed this side effect with my Dr., whose response was to cut my dose from 1.5mg to 1mg. This had no impact on my depression or the retrograde ejaculation (which continued unabated). So, I have stopped taking Risperidone. Should I tell my Dr. I refuse to take this, or let him think I'm on board (keep things smooth)? I'm afraid to challenge him on the use of it at all (given that the use is off label, not to mention the US H&HS report), or should I bring this up? Would I be seen as a 'problem' patient? Perhaps I'm dead wrong on this (the part about the ineffectiveness). I just can't help getting the feeling that Johnson & Johnson drug reps have promoted this off label use to juice sales, and I'm out $$$ and normal orgasms so they can make a few more bucks. My Dr's attitude is a little arrogant, and he is a powerful person in his profession (heads up the Phychiatry Dept at the only mental health ward in the area [population 500,000]).

I'd be interested in feedback from anyone, professionals who monitor this board are welcome.

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Taking Risperidone, Haldol, Abilify, Seroquel or Zyprexa?